As a Nara
by Naouma Koi
Summary: Sunagakure has been destroyed and the ninja villages are at war.  What will the outcome be?  And what started it to begin with?
1. Prologue

_**.Prologue.  
>.A Mother's Last Letter.<strong>_

I yawn hugely as I sit up in my bed. It had been a rather peaceful night for once, the nightmares far behind me finally. Smiling and getting up, I walk out into the kitchen and pour myself a generous amount of cereal, sitting down to enjoy my breakfast.

Once I have finished my breakfast, I look around my self-imposed prison. There isn't a lot here for me to do, so I pull out a small sketchbook and draw for a while, eventually setting it aside in favour of a composition book. In this composition book, I write the feelings I'm getting today, just like I have every day for the past month.

xx-xx-xxxx  
><em>I'm still here, amazing as that might seem. My mind is closer to insanity from the lonliness, and my eyes are closer to blindness from the darkness of this place, but I'm still alive. Alive… What a notion. Even as I write this, I can hardly think to be grateful for the life I still have.<br>After the destruction of our village, I don't think I'll ever be thankful for anything again.  
>It was just that horrible.<br>And when I think about that time, I wonder where he is or even if he survived. That Uzumaki boy was something else and, if I were to put faith in anyone, it would have been him. Of all the people I knew back then, he was one of the only ones who never did me wron—_

My door bursts open suddenly and I am plunged into dusty light. After my rather dim lighting for the past month, the bright light of the sun hurts my eyes. I close them tightly, listening for any signs of my intruders.

I hear them just before I am grabbed. Something is pressed against my face, and, before I pass out, my final thought is of my daughter.

_I hope she's safe._


	2. The Calm of a Mountain

_**.Chapter One.  
>.The Calm of a Mountain<strong>__**.**_

_'Mom, wherever you've gone, watch me today and help me to pass my exams and leave into the world as a Genin, the lowest rank of a ninja.'_

I sigh and look down at the paper. The first part of the exams here in my new village is a written test. It tests your general knowledge of genjitsu and ninjutsu, as well as the types of situations each is most useful in.

I breeze through the written and am brought into a small room down the hall from the main exam room. "You will be performing a basic clone jutsu today. Show me… Your regular teacher."

I was expecting something really difficult, so this should be easy for me. I perform the proper jutsu and am released from the exam with my new village-specific headband that symbolises that I am a proper ninja.

The headband I received is made with read cloth and a metal piece with the village symbol engraved in it and I smile brightly, pinning it to the sleeve of my jacket. The village symbol is a pair of mountains, one in front of the other, and I really like it, though it doesn't really fit my style much.

Suddenly, I stop and hide behind a nearby tree. "Did you hear? That orphan looser graduated too."

"Oh, gawd! Really? I hope she's not on my team."

"I know. I think I'd just die if they put her on mine."

The gossiping girls go around the next corner and I come out of hiding, earlier happiness gone. It's exactly what I thought would happen. No one was going to want me on their team, and they were going to try to pass me around. I hate that everyone here still treats me like an outsider.

It's been nearly three years since the incident that destroyed my old village and sent me here as a captive, only to be released and allowed to live the life of an ordinary shinobi. I've only come this far because I want out of this place. No one accepts me, I've never made any friends here, and no one wants to hear about how I watched my father be taken away right before my eyes.

Or my theories about how both of my parents are still out there somewhere, fighting for their lives possibly.

No, instead people go around telling their children that I'm going to turn traitor and how the leaders of the village are being stupid by allowing me to learn the art of the ninja. And so the kids from class hate me, the people on the streets hate me… And I feel isolated all the time.

_Maybe it's better this way_

The thought makes me laugh. Better? Better to be hated than to have friends? I've lived both sides of that coin, and the friend side is definitely better.

Regardless, I head through the town as though nothing is wrong, only stopping in my designated area, where I'm supposed to meet my new teacher and my new teammates.

Teammates, right…

Several minutes pass before another student makes an appearance, coming from behind me like a ghost. He sits down not too far away and pulls out a book. A couple more minutes pass and another student shows up. It's one of the gossiping girls from earlier, and I hear her groan of annoyance. "Really? _You're _the people I got landed with?" she says, sitting down away from both of us. "Just great." She turns her dejected gaze toward the ground and I find myself happy to know that my other teammate isn't all that loved either.

We all sit there for nearly an hour longer before anything happens. As though out of nowhere, there's a woman standing in front of us, her golden eyes staring at us slightly, a smile on her face. Her deep auburn hair blows around a little in the wind but settles almost at once when it stops. The three of us stare at her in awe, and I hardly notice when a kunai knife lands point-down in the ground right in front of my crossed legs.

She looks at us each in turn before sitting down cross-legged just like we were. "My name is Isis Akiyama, a Jonin originating from the land of fire's own Konoha. Any questions about that are prohibited, and any bullying about other's origins will not be tolerated. We are a team, and we will treat each other with the respect that a teammate deserves. Please, introduce yourselves." She says, her voice commanding an authority I've never heard before.

The gossiping girl from earlier starts. "I'm Masami Oshiro." she said. She left it at that, and I got the impression that she didn't want us to know any more about her.

The mysterious one follows. "Yasu Shizuka." The way this person speaks and looks makes it very hard to discern weather they're a boy or a girl. The dark hair is worn in a loose bun, the ends poking out in spikes, bright green eyes look out from under the long bangs.

"My name is Kohaku Nara. I came here when Sunagakure was destroyed in the battle three years ago. It will be a pleasure to work with you." I speak in my sweetest voice, clearly out-doing the other two, which earns me a smile from Isis.

"Alright, you've introduced yourselves. Now, I'm going to give you a designation for a mock-mission and you are to follow the orders given _without question_ and as well as you can. Whoever is marked as the leader will be given a scroll with the "mission parameters". You cannot show the scroll to the other members, as it will be your job to lead them. As for the other members, there will be a medic, and a scout." Isis speaks with little emotion, giving _me_ the scroll that designates the leader for the exercise.

"Wait, WAIT! Her! You're letting _her_ be leader!" Masami stares at our teacher, a look of shock on her make-up caked face.

"Yes, I am. Is this a problem Masami?" Isis seems unimpressed by the blonde girl's boldness.

"… No…"

"Good. Masami will be scout. Yasu will be the medic."

"What about you, sensei?" I ask, wondering what her role in this will be.

"Open your scroll and you'll find out." She replied, smiling for once before practically disappearing.

I stare at the place Isis stood, a look of awe on my face, I'm sure. Masami just continues to glare at me. "Well, aren't you gonna read it?" she says rudely, gesturing at the scroll I still have in my hand.

I smile at her and open the scroll. Inside, I find the specifics of what this is about. It's our teamwork test, to make sure we can work together without any issues. The first paragraph is what our sensei just told us, so I pass over it quickly, going onto the second bit.

"Treat this as a real assignment and DO NOT WAIVER in your decisions. Make them swiftly and always be sure of yourself and you cannot fail this.  
>"The mission is a simple one. LOCATE YOUR LOST SENSEI. I have given a few Chuunin the designation of 'enemy ninja' for you to face for this, which is why one of you is to be designated 'medic'. I have read all of your files, and this assignment tests each of you accordingly.<br>"You, Kohaku Nara, will be in charge for this assignment and should know that I will be located a little ways outside the village, though not out of earshot of the gates.  
>"You have six hours from the time I leave the clearing in which to complete your mission.<br>"I will be keeping track, so you'd better get a move on."

I sigh deeply. For mission specs, Isis hasn't given us a lot to work with, though she clearly knew before this that she was going to make me leader in this test. "Well, what does it say?" the rude voice of Masami interrupts my thoughts.

"It says that… Oh yes, I can't tell you that." I reply swiftly, knocking her witty thoughts away.

"Why you…"

"Masami Oshiro. You have been designated a scout for this mission. SO SCOUT. Tell me how many ninja are watching us and from where." I already knew that there were three chuunin with eyes on the clearing. One was in the top of a tree right at the edge of the clearing, to the right of us. One was in a nearby bush and had been there all afternoon. The final one was located to the left, hiding in the shadows of the trees.

If Masami could tell me this, it would mean she was designated based on specialty, and I needed to know this. If Masami was designated based on specialty, then Yasu was as well, which meant this would be treated as a real mission and these chuunin designated against us would _not_ go easy on us.

Masami closes her eyes and places her hands together behind her back. She lowers her head and looks as though she's seriously concentrating on the surrounding area. Before she was done, I saw a slight purple haze around her, though I'm not sure how or even when I learned to see chakra flow.

When she opens her eyes and looks at me again, she smiles. "There are three mid-level ninja surrounding the clearing, two more watching the gates of this village and one patrolling just outside the gates. The three surrounding the clearing… One is in a tree to the right, one is and has been in a nearby bush and the other is to the left, waiting patiently in the shadows of the trees." She says and I frown. This would be a difficult test if we could not work as a team. I crouch down, put my hands together, and close my eyes, formulating a plan.

_There are three near, two watching the gates we must use, and one waiting to ambush us is we get out… The best way to do this would be to have one person go in, a stealth attack. We don't have that option though, since we have to be a team of three._

"Could you pinpoint their exact locations on a map, if one were provided?" I ask, looking up at Masami suddenly. I want to know how good this girl is.

She nods and I pull a map from my bag and hand her a pen as well. When she places them, I stare at the map again myself for a moment before closing my eyes again.

_The three by the clearing… We can avoid them by going south, so they're not a threat. The two guarding the gate can be gone around as well… The only thing she was unable to tell me is the exact patrol pattern of the one outside the gates. For that one, I must act as though we will fight._

"Right," I start, standing up again. "The mission if to locate our 'lost' sensei. Intelligence tells us she is outside the village. Yasu will take a southern path, avoiding all combat. Your mission is to get the gates open without alerting the two 'enemies' that will be watching. Masami and I will also take a southern route away from the clearing, to avoid unnecessary combat. We will split away from you and take a different route to the gates, distracting the two guardsmen with a few small explosions. We will meet you at the gate in no more than an hour. Everyone got it?"

"Yes." It's very quiet, but Yasu is the first one to answer. After watching this person throughout the meeting here, I have concluded that it is most likely a boy, though nothing is made clear by the way he speaks or stands or even the way he behaves. I won't really know until he decides to tell me, so I will just assume for now.

Masami takes a moment to answer, really seeming to think about it. "Isis may have made you leader on this 'mission' but that doesn't mean that I have to like you." she says finally. I smile at her and shrug slightly. "That said, yeah. I understand."

"Alright then. Go!" Yasu vanishes nearly instantly, making me wonder what he's really capable of. Masami and I move a little slower, covering ourselves with a genjitsu that will make us invisible to the watching 'enemy' ninja.

A few minutes go by and I release the jutsu as we come into town. Quickly I spot the first guardian. It appears they've not spotted us yet, so we have a small advantage as we set off our distracting smoke-bombs. Apparently the village citizen's all know what's going on, because no one freaks out, and I have to wonder how many other teams have been tested this way in the past.

…...

_Staring down at the devastation of Sunagakure makes me wonder what happened. The mission specs aren't specific in that area and it looks more like an explosion took place here. At least, that's the only thing that comes to mind looking at it._

_ So, I get to pick through what's left of a village I'm not part of, after some sort of explosion took place._

_ What a drag._

The memory of that day still sucks, and I hate thinking about it. It didn't take us long to uncover what was left of the Kazekage's residence… This was where Temari had been with our daughter, Kohaku. I would wonder if they're dead, but we found bodies of everyone except the Kazekage, his brother and sister, and my daughter, so chances are, they're all still alive.

There's really no telling though, in this world.

Since then, the shinobi world has dissolved into war, divided between three alliances and a few smaller villages that wanted to stay out of it.

Konohagakure, what's left of Sunagakure and Kirigakure formed a strong alliance almost immediately after the attack on the Sands. I've been part of liaison between Konoha and Kiri ever since, and let me just say, it's such a drag to have to escort the important people from place to place on the constant back and forth trips.

Finally though, I've been allowed to take a short leave, which is giving me more time to think about things. And, weirdly enough, one of the first things that come to my mind right now is that I have a twelve-year-old daughter with a woman I never married. The second is the fact that I may never see either of them again.

That's not just a drag, it simply sucks.

Choji thinks I should just ask Kakashi if I can look for them, but I don't really think that's the best idea. I know he'd tell me yes, which is the entire issue. For Temari and Kohaku, I wouldn't really mind the work part, but the fact remains that there has been no word of _any_ of the possible survivors. If there had been even a sighting somewhere, I would ask.

"Hey! Shikamaru!" Ino.

"Yeah?" Stopping, I turn to face her, though I'd _still_ rather keep walking.

"I was told to give you this." Smiling, Ino hands me a letter marked as being from the Hokage's desk.

"Oh… Thanks…" Frowning, I wonder what it could possibly be about. Quickly I pull the letter open and look at it. The first sentence makes my breath catch in my chest.

_Shikamaru,  
>Word has been sent from Yamagakure about your daughter. It seems she's recently passed their exams and become a Genin of their village. They went to register her and found her missing person file.<br>I would like to speak with you about what will happen with this new intelligence. Please, drop by when you have time._

Yamagakure? That's insane! How would she get there! Apologising to Ino, I hurry to see Kakashi, wondering what on earth he was going to tell me.

"Yamagakure! Are you _positive_?" I'm shocked at myself, practically yelling at the acting Hokage like this…

"Yes, Shikamaru. Nothing will change the location, so you can stop being outraged. I must say, this is the most effort I've ever seen you put into a conversation." Kakashi smiles and I sigh, slightly tired from the energy I'm putting out today.

"Yamagakure. Okay, I guess that's not too bad. That four day trip's gonna be such a drag though."

"That's the spirit. You can choose two other shinobi to go with you, in case things go wrong."

"Got it."

"And Shikamaru?"

"Yes?"

"I know she's your daughter, but she is registered as a ninja, though only a genin."

"Yeah, yeah…" It wouldn't shock me if someone has used some sort of memory modification jutsu on her, so I get what he's saying. If she decides we're a threat, she _will _attack.

A four day trip to the land of mountains south of Suna…

Why do I have the distinct feeling something's going to go wrong?


End file.
